ERA17FA107 · Beech A45
Beech A45 · Accident: loss of engine power (total) while maneuvering
From Anderson Airport (GE21) to Anderson Airport (GE21)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA17FA107
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Beech A45
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 45
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N3434G
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Anderson Airport (GE21), Climax, GATo Anderson Airport (GE21), Climax, GA
- Aircraft age
- About 60 years (built 1957)
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Maneuvering
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of engine power (total)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot was flying a local, personal flight from his personal airstrip after sundown. A witness who heard the airplane before the crash reported that the engine made a "sputtering" sound. The airplane collided with two tall trees and came to rest inverted on the approach end of the runway. The propeller did not exhibit indications of rotational damage. Although the right fuel tank was breached from impact and no fuel was found inside, the left tank contained 11 gallons of fuel.
An annual inspection was completed on the airframe and engine about 2.2 hours before the accident. An examination of the engine fuel lines found the throttle and metering unit outlet AN "B" nut was less than finger-tight. When the fuel manifold valve cap was opened, fuel leaked from the loose throttle and metering unit outlet AN "B" nut. Compressed air was passed through the throttle and metering unit inlet fuel line; bubbles and fuel could be seen coming out of the fuel outlet AN fitting. The condition of the fuel lines was an inspection item specifically noted as completed during the annual inspection. The throttle and metering unit outlet "B" nut most likely was not adequately secured during the inspection and backed off during the 2.2-hour previous flight and the 12-minute accident flight, which subsequently resulted in a total loss of engine power. The pilot was likely attempting to return to the runway, as the landing gear were extended and the flaps were up at the time of the accident. However, since the accident occurred concurrently with the end of civil twilight, it is possible that he did not see the trees on final approach due to the darkening conditions.
Probable cause
The failure of maintenance personnel to ensure that the throttle and fuel metering unit AN "B" nut was secured, which resulted in a total loss of engine power in flight and a subsequent collision with trees while attempting to land after sunset.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA17FA107
- Event ID
- 20170216X12812
- Case number
- ERA17FA107
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 5b9cf1f081ee6cbd942db7975307e3811831ef4e77d923ed1fae44bae5490e67; retrieved 2026-09-15T05:58:43.740Z.